Fallout 3: Wasteland Adventures
by shadowgeneral88
Summary: A young man is plunged into a world decimated and struggling to recover from a 200-year-old nuclear apocalypse. He searches for his missing father, aided only by knowledge learned from friends in the vault, and a young girl as his companion. Ch. 1 is up!


Fallout 3: Wasteland Adventures

_Dear Readers,_

_Yes, it's me, the author of Seven Saviors of Cyrodiil. For those of you who know me from that, no, the story isn't abandoned, I just haven't made time for it, and for that I'm sorry. But this brainchild for a Fallout 3 story occurred to me. So Here we go, into our first chapter. I'm going to somewhat format it like my Oblivion fic as I bring in characters, only there won't be so many, seeing as there's few true 'factions' to work for in the Fallout game. Anyway, here goes nothing!_

**Near the ruins of Springvale**

Ismira was running. She ran and ran, panting and gasping for breath as she scaled one dune of ruined, scorched earth and tumbled down the slope on the other side. Behind her she heard the reports from hunting rifles and assorted pistols as her pursuers attempted to bring her down, calling out in their angry taunts, tainted with the insanity that drove the Raiders.

She hunkered down behind some boulders, and looked down at the old Chinese pistol in her hand, all clips empty, now useless to her. Swearing softly in Spanish, she holstered the weapon and looked up angrily for another solution, staring into the ruins of the Springvale Elementary School. She then proceeded to see what she had missed in her panicked retreat from her pursuers: about five more raiders were roaming the ruins of the gutted school, scrounging for useful materials. One male raider seemed to be trying to pull the moves on another female raider with a hot pink tri-hawk. She punched him in the arm and pointed at Ismira. He smirked and pulled out a 10mm submachine gun, winking at the raider and advancing on Ismira.

_Well, shit, I'm in for it this time,_ she thought. She _really _would have enjoyed not having to escape from Paradise Falls again… But maybe these raiders would just chop her up like the rest of the wastelanders. One of the other raiders reached her first, and ripped a combat knife out of a sheath by his boot.

"Time to bleed you out, bitch!" he cackled, and drew back the knife.

Suddenly a shot rang out and the Raider had a bullet punch through his neck. He fell to the ground gurgling, and the other raiders stopped their advance, looking around jerkily. A man stepped into the ruins, ratcheting back the bolt on a hunting rifle and grinning, as if in reply to a joke.

"What's shakin'?" he asked coyly. The female raider growled and advanced. The man pulled something from his pocket and threw it at her.

"Catch!" he said with a grin. The raider caught a baseball, snorted, and threw it away. She caught the next thing he threw at her, and then looked at it in horror.

"Fuck this shit!" She cried before the frag grenade she had caught exploded, taking her and her admirer with it. The man then leveled his hunting rifle at the last raider, who was running for cover, and fired off three shots in rapid succession. He collapsed to the ground and died. Ismira's savior then kneeled next to her.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded, then froze. Shit, the Raiders chasing her! She dove for the nearest raider corpse, searching desperately for 10mm rounds for her pistol.

"What's wrong?"

She shushed him and then loudly whispered to him.

"I'm being pursued by more Raiders, help me find some ammo or go away!"

The man smirked at her, and she sat back and resignedly sighed.

"Okay, great master of cunning and the hunting rifle, what's so funny?"

He replied, "I think that situation will resolve itself, just yell or something."

She looked at him incredulously. Yell for her chasers? Was he crazy?

She went back to reloading her pistol. The man proceeded to do something she hadn't expected.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" he yelled. She looked at him, shocked; he had betrayed her!

She heard the raiders running their direction, and she set her face. If she was going to die, her betrayer was going to go with her. She pointed the Chinese pistol at him, and he looked at her frantically and held up his hand at her, shaking his head. She heard one of the raiders cry out, "SHIT, MINES!" and then there was a rapid beeping, followed by a series of explosions. Ismira's rescuer sighed in relief.

"Can you drop the freaking gun away from my eyeballs, now? They took the bait."

Ismira tucked the gun back in her holster, blushing slightly, still shaking from exertion and catching her breath.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked the man.

"Gee, you're welcome!" the man said, rolling his eyes and kneeling to scavenge the rest of the raiders. That was when she saw the giant yellow '101' on the back of the armored blue suit the man wore. The man wore a flat-brimmed hat on his head, and under the hat he had tousled brown hair, blue eyes, and skin too pale to be a natural-born wastelander. It came to her.

"Hey, you must have come out of a vault!" she said, and he smiled at her, standing up and dusting off his hands, tucking one behind his back and flourishing the other as he bowed to her.

"Yes, kind lady, I am indeed from a vault. The ever-wonderful Vault 101, full of happy joyous people and home to the cleanest population on the planet. It's a blissful, happy life down there. But they aren't accepting new residents, so, apologies."

Ismira didn't fail to pick up the sardonic tone.

"I take it your leaving wasn't a joyous occasion?" she asked.

"Far from it. My dad left the vault without telling me he was leaving. When he left, the Overseer went ape-shit and sent the security force after me. They were using lethal force… I had to kill people I grew up knowing, people I shared space with, people I thought were my friends!"

He started shaking slightly, his voice quivering. Ismira felt awkward, and rather apologetic for bringing up a bad topic.

"I'm… sorry…" she said, looking at the ground. He shook his head and cleared his throat.

"No, no, I'm sorry, it's just a memory I will never ever truly find peace with, amongst other memories. But now I'm a wasteland immigrant. I'm still learning the ropes, of course, but it is nice knowing there's SOME humanity out here. That means that mankind isn't lost beyond redemption."

She stood up and walked in front of him, looking into his eyes.

"Unbelievable… you actually sound like you mean that," she said, shocked, "How can you believe that when we're surrounded by this?" She indicated the desecrated human corpses hanging in chains and laying scattered and gutted all over, old victims of the Raiders.

"Because if we stop believing," he said, beckoning her to follow, "what else do we have left?"

She stared after him as he exited the ruins and gathered up her things and extra ammo and followed.

**Megaton, Lone Wanderer's House**

Ismira sat sipping an ice-cold Nuka-Cola, watching as her rescuer sorted out his equipment into destroyed lockers and cleaning weapons.

"This all seems rather old hat to you, Mister, uhm…"

"Eli, call me Eli," the man said, not looking up from the 10mm pistols he was salvaging for parts for the submachine gun.

"Well, Eli, thank you. I appreciate your rescue today… but why? Why did you endanger yourself to help me? I was a complete stranger to you, and you risked your life for me," she asked incredulously.

"First of all, ma'am, is what I did so unbelievable? What I did happens every day out here, to a lesser or greater extent. It just has different appearances. People convene around places like Megaton, Tenpenny Tower, Big Town, or Arefu, and submit themselves to a single emblem of power, a greater sense of community. Megaton has Lucas Simms, Arefu has Ethan King, Tenpenny Tower has, well, I suppose Mr. Tenpenny. They head communities who set down basic rules and allow a sort of 'get-by' routine, where they can interact with the person next door without fear of getting shot, being looted, and having the rest of their family murdered in the night, because they want that. Many people have demonstrated they want order and cooperation over the reigning chaos."

"And secondly," he continued, as Ismira actually paid attention to this lecture, "I just morally couldn't let them take you out. I try to be caring… for what it gets me."

At that last statement, his eyes darkened and his brow furrowed; he was thinking back to the vault. She changed the topic.

"My name is Ismira, but some people call me Mira," she said. He shook away the thoughts in his head and smiled at her.

"Well, I'll call you Mira as well, if you desire," he said, strapping his hunting rifle to his back and tucking his refurbished 10mm pistol into his belt. He slid the submachine gun across the table at her and she caught it, looking at him questioningly.

"Take it, it's a bit more powerful than your Chinese pistol without having the kick of an actual assault rifle," he said, sliding her a shoulder strap to attach to it as well.

"I'm going to Craterside Supply, I have a few presents for Moira. You can come with me, if you like."

She stood up and stretched, putting the bottle of Nuka-Cola aside and tossing him the bottle cap.

"Sure, I don't have anything else to do, really," she replied with a smile.

**Megaton**

They stepped out of the hot sunlight into the shelter of Craterside Supply, and Moira greeted Eli enthusiastically.

"Well hey, there! How did your travels go? Did you find time to go to take care of my errand?" Moira asked in her happy-go-lucky voice.

"I certainly did, made the trip all for you! Here, I got you a present. That place was scary enough with the mines blinking and beeping everywhere, and then there was a sniper on top of all of that," Eli replied, "He was crafty, he started shooting at the car husks near me, and they would explode if I wasn't paying attention. When he ran out of cars, he drilled me in the left arm. I finally got the message across that I wasn't an enemy of his. He was an escaped slave, and he was of the impression that I was a slaver come to take him back. He bandaged me up, apologized, and I took him along with me to Arefu. I feel bad for any raiders that bug that town anymore, he's already started a chalk tally, and when I woke up the next morning he had about 15 marks on the concrete."

Moira looked ecstatic and enthralled by Eli's recounting.

"Oh dearie me, but you pull off some of the most amazing things I've ever heard! Many others would have killed the sniper! But Eli, these mines are fantastic, thank you! Here, while you were away, I poked around and found some blueprints you might like. They're for one of those bottlecap mines. And that sniper story reminds me, I found this and put it together for you, I think you can use it better than me. Mr. Woodstock said you were a decent shot already, and he's happy with his sniper rifle, so it's all yours."

Moira handed Eli a sniper rifle that looked freshly cleaned, oiled, and ready to go. He shouldered it and started working with Moira, selling collected junk and scavenged weapons, and exchanging caps and ammunition with her. He also talked to her about a next task for a 'Survival Guide', involving the 'Super Duper Mart'.

"Sounds good, Moira, thanks!" Eli said, and he and Mira exited the shop. As they checked everything over, Nova, the local courtesan working for Moriarty, walked up and caressed Eli's shoulder.

"Hey, sweetie, I have something for you," she purred. Mira bristled, then caught herself. What was she upset for? She wasn't Eli's girlfriend or anything. Nova reached up on tiptoe, kissing Eli on the cheek and slipping a small piece of paper into his hand. He read the paper, looked around, and chuckled.

"'Your father went to Galaxy News Radio'… Nova, you could have just told me this, Moriarty isn't even perched on his stoop," Eli said, cheeks flushed slightly in embarrassment.

"Oh, I know, baby, but it's pretty cute watching you blush. And I like being coy," Nova said, putting that seductive lilt into her voice as she walked away, swaying her hips. Mira sniffed, then noticed it wasn't necessary to let Eli know of her disdain for the occurrence, he was looking at the small slip of paper, reading the words over and over again, but his eyes were far away.

"Eli?" Mira asked, approaching him slowly, "Are you okay?"

He didn't respond, but she distinctly heard him whisper hoarsely under his breath: "Dad…"

He shook himself awake and said, "Listen, I know you aren't from around here, but I need to take care of something. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but you can use my house for as long as you like." He went over, leaning on the handrail and staring down at the diffused atomic bomb.

Mira smirked and walked over, leaning backward on the railing, looking at him until he looked at her and made eye contact.

"I'm coming with you, cowboy. I owe you one, and I'm not gonna let the first decent guy I've ever met go out and get wasted in the wastes," she said with a smile, and rested a hand on his forearm.

"Well then, soldier," Eli said with a smile, tugging her back toward Craterside Supply, "Let's get you kitted out and ready for duty!" He then unshouldered the sniper rifle and passed it to her, and she took it and shouldered the weapon herself, snapping a dramatic salute and smiling.

"Yes, sir!"

_Well, what do you think? Congratulations, you've met the two staple characters of the story. Feel free to post any suggestions, or if you want a character inserted into the tale, feel free to drop a review with basic information:_

_Name_

_Skill Set_

_Species/Type: Human/Ghoul preferably, but robots are also very much acceptable_

_Characteristics, looks, etc. (Please note that I will not take any sort of super-hero that cannot be hurt, is invulnerable, etc. No character is infallible, and any submitted characters will be at my whim. I will be reasonable, fear not. I expect submitted characters to have their own perks, qualms, quirks, etc. But please play around)_

_I will not guarantee that every character submitted will become a crucial part of the story, but provided you follow the above guidelines, some can make cameos at parts of the tale, and some could come into play frequently. Companion characters will also play crucial parts in the adventures at times, so please don't be upset if your character gets scrapped, I need to maintain my story integrity. Thanks for your understanding, and for the oblivion fic readers, I promise I'll return to it soon! I have another chapter on the way, and I'm replaying Oblivion myself. Yes, I am definitely making each of my characters too __._


End file.
